


Dolls and Guys

by Ysabetwordsmith



Series: Love Is For Children [3]
Category: The Avengers (2012), The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: #coulsonlives, Age Play, Angst, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Bruce Feels, Competency, Control, Control Issues, Current environment is supportive, Cute, Daddy Issues, Dark Past, Dolls, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Familial Abuse, Families of Choice, Family, Family Drama, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foreign Language, Games, Gender Issues, Gender Roles, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Misogyny, Making up for lost time, No Sex, Non-sexual, Nonsexual Ageplay, Past Abuse, Personal Growth, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Teambuilding, Thaddeus Ross' A+ Parenting, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Toys, Trains, Unconventional Families, Verbal Abuse, flangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-09 06:56:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson finally talks Betty Ross into letting him visit. General Ross is not pleased, but is no match for the opposition. Betty decides to take refuge with the Avengers ... and the interpersonal dynamics get complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Take a Chance on Us

**Author's Note:**

> If you've been reading this series for the fluffy ageplay, that's about the second half of the story. The first half contains an assortment of drama and emotional whump, because well, these characters have cruddy pasts and that keeps coming up to stir trouble periodically.
> 
> There are sequels to this story, which are linked on the [series page](http://archiveofourown.org/series/42722).

Phil Coulson climbed the steps of the pleasant wooden porch. The house itself was charming and quiet, located in an out-of-the way neighborhood. It was small, too, because Betty Ross lived alone now, having left Leonard Samson behind. Phil's overtures, although initially ignored, had perhaps helped rekindle her hope of seeing Bruce again. It took months of gentle persuasion to get this far. Phil felt grateful that Betty finally agreed to a meeting. _She's a remarkable woman,_ he thought. _I just hope I can convince her to take a chance on us_.

Taking a deep breath, Phil knocked on the door. It opened at once, revealing Betty Ross in a white blouse and blue jeans, her dark hair tousled over her shoulders. "Good morning, Dr. Ross," he said. "I'm Agent Coulson, and I am here to--"

"Get inside, you fool, before he sees you!" she snapped. Betty grabbed his wrist in a surprisingly strong grasp, yanked him inside, and slammed the door behind him. Then she threw all three of the deadbolts. "Are you _certain_ that nobody followed you? My father is an _expert_ stalker."

"Quite certain, Dr. Ross, it's my job to make sure of things like that," Phil said smoothly. Under cover of his cool professional mask, though, he was steaming. No wonder Bruce couldn't stand to have anyone flanking him too closely, not even the SHIELD agents intended as bodyguards in case Hulk went down in combat and changed back to the far more vulnerable Bruce. "This house is covered at long range and short range, just in case." Following wouldn't have been required if General Ross already spied on his daughter's neighborhood.

"Great. Let me just grab my getaway bag and we can leave," Betty said.

As she bent to retrieve a backpack from the closet, Phil saw the outline of an object through the pocket of her jeans, just right for a can of mace. That and her word choice firmed up his suspicions about General Ross being an abusive bastard to more than Bruce. "Of course, Dr. Ross," he said.

"Just call me Betty," she said as she settled the straps of the backpack over her shoulders.

"Betty, then," Phil agreed. "We have a jet waiting."

From the back yard came the sound of a scuffle.

"He found me again," Betty said, her face paling. "Oh shit, oh shit ..." She reached for her pocket.

"Don't worry, Betty, everything is well in hand," Phil said. He put his hand on his gun, just in case, but none of the emergency alarms had triggered so he knew nothing had gone too far wrong.

"If you bite me, I _will_ sue you, and I _will_ win because I have more lawyers than you have soldiers," said a cold voice. Tony Stark dragged a rumpled General Ross through the back door. His own expensive Italian suit was somewhat the worse for wear, and his designer sunglasses sat slightly askew, but Tony had the older man's right wrist twisted past his shoulderblades and another hand over his mouth. From the smashed and bloody state of Ross' nose, Tony had also indulged in a little payback for the army's rough treatment of Bruce.

"You caught him ...? Just like that ...?" Betty said faintly.

Tony gave her an incandescent grin. "Good morning, Dr. Ross. I'd hoped to make a more civilized impression on you, but I ran into a little problem with trash pick-up in your back yard. Seems this fellow was violating that restraining order you filed against him, and didn't take kindly to me telling him to leave. He thinks he's tough, but let me tell you, he's no Chitauri, no Vanko, not even as much trouble as an Afghani warlord -- and I could go on, but I'm pretty much just repeating myself here."

"I trust you've notified the appropriate authorities?" Phil said, carefully keeping his smirk off his face.

"They won't come," Betty said. "He blocks the restraining order every time I try to file it, and he bribes or bullies the police."

"The restraining order went through this time," Phil assured her.

"Also SHIELD personnel will take him down to the police station," Tony said. "If he comes back out instead of staying in a cell where he belongs, they'll lock him up at headquarters. There's a cell on the Helicarrier with an _amazing_ view." His captive twitched. "Built for something a lot stronger than you," Tony hissed at him, "so don't go getting any bright ideas. As if you could."

Betty's eyes narrowed as she gazed at her father. "Hmm ..." she said. Something about her reminded Phil of Tony's laser ramping up to cutting power, that upward-scaling hum and glint of razored light.

"You look like you've got something to say, so why don't you get that off your chest while I hold him for you," Tony invited, for all the world as if he intended to pin General Ross in place while Betty beat the snot out of him.

"You're not my father," Betty said, and oh yes, that laser beam had reached full power now. "You have _never_ been a father to me. You may have fed me and housed me and dressed me up to show your friends, but it wasn't for my sake, it was for _yours_. I was nothing but a big doll to you. You wanted a trophy daughter. I just wasn't it. When I was too _smart_ to fall for your lies and your promises anymore, you hit me."

General Ross struggled in Tony's grasp. Tony held onto him. It wasn't easy to escape from someone who had enough muscle to forge metal by hand if circumstances called for it. That was even before Tony started sparring with Steve and Natasha and Clint.

Betty did not hesitate to take advantage of her captive audience. "All you did for me just aimed at running my whole life," she said. "When I got my degree, you manipulated everything so the only jobs I could possibly get were army jobs. When I fell in love with a man, you _kidnapped_ him and treated him like a _lab rat_. All because you couldn't stand the idea of me making a life of my own, outside your shadow. Well, I told you that I'd never stop trying to get away from you until I succeeded, and I finally did. God, you make me sick, you abusive control freak. You're not my father! You _never were!"_ Betty stomped toward the door.


	2. A Rough Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil, Tony, and Betty make it safely to the jet. Then the issues come bubbling up.

Thaddeus Ross looked like he'd been hit in the gut not with words but with a fist. Or perhaps a knife. He had turned a shade of pale that would have alarmed Phil, if Phil had cared one whit about the man's condition. As he watched, the general went limp in Tony's grasp. Tony wrinkled his nose and let go, allowing Ross to slump to the floor like a sack of garbage. A SHIELD-issue zip tie bound both wrists, and Tony must have moved fast indeed to slip that into place before dropping him. Then he bent down and did the ankles too.

"And you know what else? The _Incredible Hulk_ is better company than you!" Betty snarled over her shoulder. Then she stormed out the door.

General Ross sobbed into the carpet. Tony fished out his Starkphone and shot a quick video, saying, "Oh yeah, Bruce will want to see this."

"He's not actually as vindictive as you are, Tony," Phil reminded him as they went after Betty.

"Yeah, no, not when it comes to _himself_. But when it comes to appreciating Betty standing up to her old man? _That,_ he'll want to see," Tony said with a tight nod.

Phil looked at Tony, frowning a little. Tony made a token effort at straightening his suit and sunglasses, then hurried after Betty. Something seemed ... off. Phil shook his head. Whatever it was, either it would come clear or he could ask Tony back at the tower.

"Which way are we going?" Betty asked.

"Ground transport is parked in the alley not far from here. We're taking my private jet home," Tony said. 

"Thank you both for coming to meet me," Betty said. "I didn't want to commit to leaving until you actually made it here. My ... General Ross tends to freak out over that. I've had to call off several plans, just to keep him from hurting other people who tried to help me. I figured if you made it here, you might actually be able to handle him."

"Well, rescuing damsels in distress is part of the job description," Tony said with a smile, but it was his _public_ smile, all shallow flash and no substance. Phil's frown deepened another notch.

Betty just snorted. "I'm a research scientist, not a _damsel,"_ she said tartly. 

"Fair point," Phil agreed. No wonder Bruce liked her so much. Phil could scarcely imagine what marvelous inventions might come from the three of them working together in Tony's lab space.

By the time they reached the jet, Betty had started to relax, finally believing that their efforts had indeed removed General Ross from her life. "Wow, this is fancy," she said as she settled into the deep padding of the seat.

"Thanks," Tony said. The sunglasses hid his eyes, but the rest of his face had a taut look. His mouth pressed into a thin line. 

"Has anyone told Bruce yet that I'm coming?" Betty asked. "Or should I call him now?"

"No," Phil said. "I'll call him when we reach Avengers Tower. If he gets more than a couple minutes of warning, he'll work himself into a lather, and that's no good for him or anyone else."

Betty sighed. "Good point."

"Speaking of phones, here, make sure Bruce sees this, would you?" Tony said. He passed Phil his Starkphone. One knee quivered faintly, just a hint of repressed jittering.

The more Phil saw of Tony, the more he worried. Tony giving up _any_ piece of technology was a bad sign. Phil pocketed Tony's phone. Then he glanced at Betty. She was ignoring them, having just discovered the tablet computer that Tony had set for browsing _JSTOR_.

"Tony, are you okay?" Phil asked quietly.

Tony licked his lips. "No," he said in a wavering tone. "No, Uncle Phil, I'm not okay."

_Oh shit,_ Phil thought, because outside of game night that had become something of a code phrase for the kind of trouble that required support. _Did Ross manage to injure him after all, and he's been hiding it up to now?_

Betty chose that inopportune moment to emerge from _JSTOR_. "Problem?" she asked.

"Tony and I just need to discuss something in private," Phil said smoothly. "Will you be all right by yourself for a few minutes? I know it's been a rough day for you."

"I have had _much_ worse days," Betty said. "Nobody's bleeding and nothing's blowing up, so I'm good." With that she went back to her tablet. It was a little disturbing how high she set her bars for a bad day, given that she wasn't actually a superhero herself, because that height was about par for the team.

As they stood up, Phil slipped an arm around Tony's waist as unobtrusively as possible. Tony leaned into him. There wasn't much privacy to be had in the small passenger compartment of the jet. They simply moved to the seats farthest away from where Betty sat.

"How badly are you wounded, Tony?" Phil asked.

Tony shook his head. "It's not -- not that," he said. "Nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises. Ross is more bark than bite in a real fight." His voice skipped and rasped like a scratched record. "It was. What she said. To him." Tony was honestly shaking now.

"I'm listening," Phil said. He rubbed a hand up and down Tony's back, trying to soothe the shudders.

"I knew -- she needed to say it. Bad things, to him, about him. I just," Tony said, struggling for air past the incipient sobs. "Didn't think -- it would be -- quite so _close."_ He tried to slow his breathing but just wound up gasping again. "Held it together as long as I could. Had to. Not safe outside. Safe, now?" His tone turned pleading.

"It's safe," Phil assured him. "We're in your jet, headed home. Let it out if you need to." Despite the miserable timing, Phil felt both impressed and grateful that Tony had admitted his distress rather than wait all the way to the tower and possibly hurt himself worse by containing the pressure that long. Maybe they could process whatever the problem was before Betty started wondering what was up. If not, well, Phil would deal with her as necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Escaping an [abusive relationship](http://www.familyviolencecouncil.org/signs_of_abuse.cfm) typically [requires planning](http://www.thehotline.org/get-help/safety-planning/), and doesn't always work on the first attempt.  There are tips for [helping people cope or escape](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/relationship-violence_n_859309.html).
> 
> People often [hide their real emotions](http://kennethrafanan.blogspot.com/2012/11/essay-2-real-feeling-real-emotion.html) and [put on a fake front](http://www.jaisiyaram.com/blog/emotions/10316-hiding-your-real-emotions-reasons-and-consequences-27-mar-12.html), especially if they are public figures.  In unsafe situations, this can be an effective [defense mechanism](http://nessaquttie.livejournal.com/55818.html).  However, it tends to undermine [emotional literacy](http://eqi.org/elit.htm), impairing both [interpersonal relationships](http://www.betheremagazine.com/id89.html) and [intrapersonal awareness](http://www.livingauthentically.org/2012/10/lying-to-yourself-work-doesnt-work/). [Unexpressed feelings](http://www.positive-way.com/newpage3.htm), positive or negative, can cause a lot of internal tension.
> 
> [Worrying builds stress](http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/how-worrying-affects-your-body) and, along with [anxiety](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety), it can [affect biochemistry](http://drlwilson.com/Articles/ANXIETY.HTM).  In Bruce's case this can have Hulk-shaped consequences.  There are [ways to reduce worrying](http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/9-steps-to-end-chronic-worrying).
> 
> [_JSTOR_](http://www.jstor.org/) is an archive site for scholarly journals across multiple disciplines.
> 
> [Admitting you need help](http://keepbeingstrong.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/admitting-you-need-help-is-the-first-step/) can be difficult.  The [stronger and more powerful a person](http://www.butterfly-maiden.com/transformation-tuesday/why-do-you-refuse-to-ask-for-help-to-work-through-personal-issues/), the harder it can be to reach out for assistance.  It's also harder for [people who have been betrayed](http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/03/living/deepak-chopra-what-to-do-when-betrayed).  There are tips for [how to ask for help](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold/201106/how-ask-help) and for [helping a friend in need](http://www.halfofus.com/HelpAFriend.aspx).


	3. What She Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony falls apart on Phil in the aftermath of Betty's devastating emotional strike on General Ross.

Tony slid out of his seat, onto the floor, so he could put his head in Phil's lap. Phil ran his fingers through Tony's hair. Tony quivered in silence for a few moments. Then he started talking again.

"I wanted. What she said. Those things," Tony said in a low, hoarse voice. "Never got to, never dared. Defied him in a lot of other ways though. I wish -- I wish Howard Stark hadn't been my father. I wish I'd had someone who'd just once _look_ at me, really _see_ me. Stupid to wish for."

No wonder that first introduction in game night had been _Tony Carter_ instead of Tony Stark. As much work as Steve had done to help Tony understand who Howard _had been,_ once, that didn't change who Tony had known growing up. Apparently Betty's speech had ripped open old wounds that were barely beginning to heal. But then laser beams had that tendency to cut through what they aimed at and then everything behind it. Phil was uncomfortably reminded of the time he'd seen Tony slice a room in half while making a new core for the arc reactor.

"It's not stupid, Tony," said Phil. "Everyone wants to be loved and cared for and acknowledged. You had every right to expect those things, especially from your father. He let you down, and maybe he couldn't help it, but that still hurts. It's okay to feel upset about that."

Tony's shoulders lifted and fell in a melancholic shrug. "Didn't get what I wished for anyway," he said. "What Betty said about being a doll, a trophy -- that was me too. He manipulated me. Manipulated everyone, really. God, it makes me wonder if he hurt Steve somehow and Steve just never realized it. He was like that -- he could tear people apart and they, they'd _thank_ him for it. So can I. That's where I get it. I _hate_ that there's anything of him in me. It makes me feel like an off-brand copy."

"Of course it bothers you, but Tony, you are _not_ just a copy of your father," Phil said gently. "You are very much a man of your own making, and I'm proud of you for that. I know it hasn't been easy."

"No, it hasn't. Everyone gets hurt around me," Tony said. "That's him too. He'd use other people against me if I let anyone get too close, so I just ... learned not to. Want it. Let it." He sniffled against Phil's pants. "I wanted to tell him that he's not my father, he never did the work of it and he didn't _deserve_ to be called my father but now he's _dead_ so I can't tell him, I _can't_ \--" The rest of Tony's words were lost in ragged sobs.

Phil mulled over the chairs in the tower. He tried to recall if any of them had been damaged a bit and stashed somewhere instead of discarded. Because he couldn't imagine that any piece of furniture would survive playing the role of Howard Stark in an empty chair exercise with Tony.

"You're not alone anymore," Phil said. "You have people who care about you now, and Howard's gone so he can't harm us. You're learning how to let us get close, let us in. I'm sorry that you're hurting so much, but I'm glad that I can be here for you."

At that Tony came completely unglued. He pressed his face between Phil's knees and sobbed. Phil stroked him tenderly. They would weather this storm together. It wasn't the first time one of the Avengers had fallen apart like this, and it surely wouldn't be the last. They all had shadows in the past, many of those in the form of wretched parental figures.

Tony tried to cry quietly, muffling his pained whimpers in Phil's lap. However, the jet was small and the passenger compartment had no subdivisions. Soft footsteps approached. Phil gave a mental sigh and held Tony a little tighter.

"Now is not a good time, Betty," said Phil, without looking up.

"I know, I know, you asked for privacy but -- I don't want to be that frigid bitch who just sits back and does nothing while somebody's crying. I couldn't do it with Bruce and I _won't_ do it now either," she said, and there was a tense note in her voice that finally did make Phil look at her. Betty's face was wet with tears.

"Your concern does you credit," Phil murmured, hoping that it wouldn't do Tony any harm. The last thing Tony needed was a total stranger standing over him while he fell apart.

Betty surprised him by folding herself onto the floor, crossing her legs to put herself on Tony's level. "Hey, there," she said in a mellow voice. "I'm sorry if I did something that upset you. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Tony turned his face to look at her, damp eyelashes sticking to his skin. Amazingly he made no effort to pull himself back together. He just watched her, open and vulnerable. Then he shook his head a little, and buried his face back in Phil's lap.

"Okay," Betty said. "If we're going to sit here on your nice shiny floor for a while, then let's get a bit more comfortable." She didn't try to touch Tony, though. She simply liberated a couple of cushions from unoccupied seats. One of them she slipped under herself, and the other she nudged against Tony's knees until he shuffled on top of it. Neither did Betty ask nosy questions. She just sat beside Tony, silently acknowledging his pain instead of ignoring it. Being careful with him, being gentle. Mostly just being _there_.

Phil began to see what Bruce must have seen in her, that quiet strength, that relentless compassion, ruled by enough intelligence to figure out _some_ way of doing good no matter how delicate the situation. No wonder Betty had managed to reach the Hulk despite all his rage and fear. He was a perfectly good judge of people; he just hadn't met many worthy ones, before the Avengers. One, really. _This one_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Parental rejection](http://www.thehealthymind.com/2012/06/13/the-painful-consequences-of-parental-rejection/%20) can have lasting consequences such as [heightened sensitivity to rejection by others](http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-rejection-sensitivity.htm%20).  It is difficult to [turn away from rejection](http://psychcentral.com/lib/2010/rejecting-childhood-rejection/%20).  There are [steps for overcoming rejection](http://www.4therapy.com/life-topics/family-relationships/divorce/most-important-step-overcoming-rejection-2661).
> 
> Emotional or [psychological manipulation](http://www.bandbacktogether.com/psychological-manipulation-resources/%20) involves [multiple lines of attack](http://www.kimjonescounseling.com/ewm-jf08/index.htm).  People can [heal from such emotional abuse](http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/getting-over-emotional-abuse-616.html) and [protect themselves from manipulation](http://peaceandloveism.com/blog/2010/06/how-to-protect-yourself-from-emotional-manipulation/%20) in the future.
> 
> The [Empty Chair Exercise](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-therapy/201001/cool-intervention-9-the-empty-chair-1) is a technique for addressing issues with a person who is unavailable or unsafe to confront. 
> 
> [Crying releases stress](http://completecoach.pro/2012/08/14/why-we-cry-and-what-to-do-to-help-someone-who-is-crying/%20) by expressing it outward.  It's [good to cry](http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/29/7-good-reasons-to-cry-the-healing-property-of-tears/) when you feel the need.  A [compassionate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion) person usually feels an urge to [comfort someone who is crying](http://www.wikihow.com/Comfort-an-Upset-Friend%20).


	4. A Gesture of Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Betty cry in Phil's lap.

Betty was crying again, Phil realized, fresh tears trickling down her cheeks in perfect silence. It generally wasn't a good sign when people learned to cry without making any noise. He had no doubt why, after witnessing her rant at General Ross. What Phil couldn't tell was whether she was crying for Tony, or herself. Possibly some mix of both. She had, after all, just escaped an abusive stalker (who was also her father) and essentially lost her father (who was also an abusive stalker) and that was bound to cause emotional complications. Tony breaking down after a confrontation was hardly restful either.

Phil knew about Betty from her file, but he didn't really know her personally. That made it difficult to gauge what to do, let alone how she might respond. She didn't have the background that Tony did in trusting Phil; it had taken a long time just to coax her into a meeting, though he knew now that she'd planned more than she'd said about that. She had her own reasons for not trusting people. Perhaps she'd seen enough of Phil attending to Tony that she had revised her opinion upward, though, since she was letting Phil see her crying too. She might be open to a gesture of comfort from him. Erring on the side of caution, Phil freed one hand from Tony and turned it palm up.

To his surprise, she leaned forward and rested her cheek in his hand, instead of simply lacing their fingers together. Her body pressed against Phil's legs on the opposite side from Tony. More tears trickled over Phil's skin. Her breath, warm and moist, blew unevenly against his palm. Small sounds of sorrow began to emerge.

Tony stirred, lifting his head to look at Betty. Tentatively he shifted a hand to her back. When she allowed the touch, he hugged her close, then shuffled around to give her more access to Phil. Betty sighed and moved her head to Phil's lap.  
Phil smoothed a hand along the dark waves of her hair. Her head lay heavy on his legs as she trusted her weight to him. He stroked the tops of her shoulders, tracing the seams of the white blouse. His fingers moved down a little farther to follow the line of Tony's arm draped around Betty.

Phil could feel the muscles of her back shift as she breathed. Betty wasn't as tense as Tony. Phil tried to find some reassurance in that. If she could left the grief flow through her and out again, it might do less harm on the way. Tony tended to fight so hard that he tied himself in knots. Betty gave another mournful little noise. Phil's heart twinged at the sound.

Betty wasn't one of his Avengers, and yet ... _and yet_. She had taken care of Bruce-and-Hulk when nobody else bothered to do it. She had stood up to her control freak father for their sake, no matter that General Ross had enough power to mangle all their lives and wielded it with savage enthusiasm. She had maybe saved them, and they'd gone on to play a major part in saving the world. She had made an effort to let Tony know that he wasn't alone, that even a stranger's pain mattered to her. For sake of all that, Phil would count Betty as one of his people and give her whatever comfort she chose to accept from him. He knew perfectly well that there were many different ways to be a hero.

And if Phil silently fantasized about giving General Ross a broken jaw to go with his flattened nose, well, what a man did in the privacy of his own mind was his business and nobody else's.

Betty soon settled down. Phil suspected that much of this was familiar emotional territory for her. Today's events might have knocked her on her butt for a minute, but she'd get up and dust herself off. Phil was reminded of Steve's stubborn _I can do this all day_. Tony, on the other hand, preferred to leave as much of his past behind him as possible. That kept things under control ... until some piece of his past knocked him down, sat on him, and beat him to a pulp. Because he had less experience facing it directly, that tended to hit him harder and keep him down longer when it did happen.

Tony shifted restlessly and said, "I don't feel good."

Phil sighed. Tony also had a tendency to cry himself sick. Phil gave Betty a gentle nudge and said, "Could you keep an eye on Tony for me, just for a minute? I need to go get something."

Betty lifted her face to say, "Okay." She'd stopped crying, though Phil could still see the faint tear tracks as they dried. She moved to let him climb out of the seat, then scooted closer to Tony.

Phil went into the tiny kitchenette toward the back of the jet. It had barely enough room to turn around in; he couldn't imagine what had possessed Tony to think making omelettes in there was any kind of feasible achievement. Phil pulled three bottles of ginger ale from the refrigerator, the kind with enough real ginger to soothe an upset stomach. He also appropriated some wet-naps.

When Phil returned to the passenger compartment, he found that Betty had somehow coaxed Tony to sit up properly in one of the chairs, settling herself beside him. That would take some of the pressure off his stomach. Clever girl. From the direction of her gaze, she was also prepared to grab an airsick bag if he needed it.

"Take small sips," Phil advised as he handed around the ginger ales. Then he passed a packet of wet-naps to Betty. "Here, I brought something for you to wash your face, too."

"Thank you," Betty said. She blotted the tear tracks off her cheeks.

Tony fell asleep not long after finishing his ginger ale. Phil collected the empty bottles and took them back to the kitchenette. When he returned, Betty pinned him with a calmly assessing gaze. Well, he might as well do what damage control he could before she started digging with real intent.

"Tony's a heavy sleeper when he wears himself out like this," Phil said softly. "As long as we don't make too much noise, he won't wake up. So if you need to ask some questions, go ahead, and I'll answer as much as I can without any inappropriate breach of confidences."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Expressing emotion](http://www.wellness-institute.org/images/PTI_-_Expression_repression_of_feelings.pdf) is safer than repressing it.  Abuse survivors often have difficulty with this, but some have learned how to work through it.  There are [healthy](http://www.drnadig.com/feelings.htm) and [unhealthy](http://www.hma.co.nz/Files/SH-Unhealthy-ways-to-express-e.pdf) ways to express feelings.  [Crying is a good way](http://www.consistent-parenting-advice.com/releasing-emotions.html) to release emotions.
> 
> [Ginger](http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/ginger-herbal-remedies.htm) is known for soothing an upset stomach.


	5. He Doesn't Take Care of Himself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty asks Phil how Bruce is doing.

"Is Bruce in on it?" Betty asked.

"What?" Phil said, his thoughts skidding as her unexpected angle of approach knocked him off balance.

Betty huffed, and rolled her eyes in a way that made Phil feel that he might have been a little too slow on the uptake, and explained, "Tony obviously trusts you. He's a very strong, very smart man with a stupendous amount of emotional armor. He wouldn't have reacted this badly today if he didn't also have a lot of negative history with authority figures."

Phil couldn't help nodding at that. Betty's analysis was spot-on, right down to identifying one of the very few chinks in Tony's armor. Phil hadn't thought the similarity between Howard Stark and Thaddeus Ross would have been close enough to do this kind of damage, though it was Betty's ruthless truths that had really made the difference. Maybe he shouldn't have asked Tony to provide backup on this mission. But Tony had been the only one with the right kind of _social_ clout to have a chance of making Ross back down short of an all-out battle.

"Yet somehow, you convinced Tony to trust you enough that he turned to you for support," Betty went on. "That must have taken a lot of time, a lot of work. Whatever it was, I want to know: _did you do the same thing for Bruce?"_

Phil was in awe of the mental leaps and bounds with which Betty had somehow bridged months of effort and insight, ferreting out some rather subtle implications, all based on a few clues from outside observation. Then instead of asking _what_ Phil had done, she skipped right past that to focus on her real goal: finding out if Bruce was in any better shape than the last time she saw him. Betty had a brilliant mind for more than just science.

"Yes," Phil said. "In fact, it was Tony who brought Bruce to me. I started a teambuilding exercise for a couple of the Avengers whom I know very well. Tony found out and joined us. As soon as he judged it workable, he got Bruce involved. Then Steve showed up. We've seen some excellent progress both on personal and professional grounds."

"Okay, good," Betty said. "Bruce is brilliant, you know? Only he doesn't take care of himself very well, and most people don't seem to care about that as long as he keeps giving them whatever they want from him. He tends to let them get away with it, and it just makes me want to _belt them_ for taking advantage of him like that. So I'm glad he found someone to look after him. Bruce does trust you, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does," Phil said. "He's still pretty reserved a lot of the time, but he's getting better at reaching out to other people, not just me but the rest of the team too. I wish he'd open up a little more emotionally, but --"

Betty snorted. "Oh, Bruce and I have _had_ the discussion about what happens when you put a sealed beaker on a Bunsen burner. For a scientist he has a remarkably poor grasp of that," she said. "Has he let you see him cry? Even once? Because I'm not sure he's ever done that with anyone other than me, and he's got a lot to cry over, so it worries me."

Phil hesitated, because there were generalities and specifics and then there were confidences, and he wasn't entirely sure where that point fell.

"Oh good," Betty said. "You're _protecting_ him. That's good."

There was always something just a little eerie about talking with someone who could see right through to the core of things. It made for wonderful backup and utterly devastating fights. Phil still winced over the way Tony and Steve had ripped into each other's most vulnerable points when they first met. Clint and Natasha could do it too. Bruce ... _didn't,_ whether he could or not. He was one of the most conflict-avoidant people Phil had ever met. Even Hulk preferred to flee rather than fight, if protecting only himself and not someone else.

That reminded Phil of something else that Betty would probably want to know. "Hulk trusts me too," he said.

"I'm glad," she said, her smile like the sun coming out from the clouds. "He's such a sweetie, once you get to know him." The idea of calling the Incredible Hulk _sweetie_ was a bit mind-blowing, but Betty had certainly seen through Phil and Tony in a hurry; whatever she saw in Hulk must be just as true. "It's nice that you took the time to get to know him."

Phil waited, but Betty didn't say anything more. "Don't you want to know what we actually did?" he prompted.

"Not really my business," Betty said.

Phil cast a pointed look where her hand wrapped around Tony's. "I think you've _made_ the Avengers your business," he said.

"Perhaps I have," Betty replied. "All right, so I _am_ curious. I just don't want to ask the kind of nosy questions that might cause problems. Whatever you're doing, it obviously works. I can look at how you treat Tony and feel grateful that Bruce has you too. That's good enough for me."

"How about I just fill you in on the part that everyone who can see the Avengers' duty schedule knows, and then you and Bruce can talk more about it later," Phil said. "We do a teambuilding exercise on Saturdays. It can take a lot of different forms but it's based on roleplaying. We've grown into a pretty tight-knit group."

"If I'm going to be in the way --"

"You won't," Phil said immediately, shaking his head. "Bruce has had a Betty-shaped hole beside him since before I even met him. I'm confident that working _with_ you will be easier than working _around_ your absence -- especially after how fast you adapted to Tony. Most people can't handle him at all."

"Most people are idiots," Betty said.

"Can't argue with that one," Phil said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Emotional armor](http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/mental_health/tips/emotional_armor.aspx%20) is a way of protecting yourself against stress. It has [healthy](http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/344611.shtml) and [unhealthy](http://www.examiner.com/article/emotional-armor) forms.  It can [crack under too much pressure](http://www.healingjourneyblog.com/2012/02/24/a-crack-in-your-emotional-armor/%20), which may leave a person vulnerable to harm or able to grow in new directions.  There are ways to [put it on](http://mindfulconstruct.com/how-to-armor-up-for-emotional-resilience/) and [take it off](http://wholelivingdaily.wholeliving.com/2010/05/take-off-your-armor-a-lesson-in-letting-others-in.html%20).
> 
> [Self care](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_care) is an important part of life.  [Not taking care of yourself](http://itsadomelife.com/2013/01/not-taking-care-of-yourself-is-like-saying-nothing-else-really-matters.html%20) is a bad sign.  Some people don't fully understand [what self care means](http://tinybuddha.com/blog/what-it-means-to-really-take-care-of-yourself/%20).  There are tips for [taking better care of yourself](http://www.thefreedomexperiment.com/2011/10/28/55-gentle-ways-to-take-care-of-yourself-when-youre-busy-busy-busy/). 
> 
> People often [take advantage of someone nice](http://www.joeporter.me/are-people-taking-advantage-of-you-because-youre-nice/%20).  There are [ways to resist that](http://psychcentral.com/lib/2011/21-tips-to-stop-being-a-people-pleaser/all/1/%20).
> 
> [Conflict avoidance](http://www.livestrong.com/article/168923-signs-of-conflict-avoidance/%20) is the tendency to shy away from disagreements.  This [causes trouble](http://www.helium.com/items/1785286-conflict-is-a-part-of-human-nature-and-a-natural-course-of-interaction%20) by impairing communication and problem-solving.  [Take steps](http://www.ehow.com/how_7574108_overcome-conflict-avoidance.html%20) to overcome it.


	6. I've Missed You a Lot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The travelers reach the tower. Betty and Bruce reunite.

True to his word, Phil announced their arrival when they reached the tower. Betty helped him maneuver a still-wobbly Tony out of the car. Tony tried to drag himself back to alertness through the fog of emotional overload and his body's resentment of getting pulled out of its recharge mode halfway through a much-needed nap. Seeing how little success Tony had with that, Phil got a shoulder under one arm and guided him up to the Avengers' common floor. 

Steve was there to meet them, along with Bruce who hung back wringing his hands and shifting from one foot to the other. Bruce went still, though, as soon as he realized that Tony wasn't in very good shape. 

"Does Tony need medical attention?" Bruce asked.

"What's wrong with Tony?" Steve demanded at the same time.

"The trip in the jet got a little rough," Betty said blandly. 

Phil wondered if he might interest her in a few espionage lessons. He also felt torn between taking care of Tony, and watching over the reunion of Betty and Bruce. "Tony isn't injured, he just needs to rest," Phil clarified.

"Don' feel good," Tony said, rubbing his eyes under the sunglasses. "Imma go liedown now." He took three steps and then tripped over his own feet.

Steve grabbed him before he could fall. Tony braced himself against the wide chest. "It's all right, Phil, I've got this," Steve said. "You stay here and look after Bruce."

"All right," Phil agreed. He hated letting Tony out of his sight right now, but he couldn't be in two places at once. Steve would take good care of Tony. Phil trusted him with that.

Steve gave Betty a guarded look, then whispered a question in Tony's ear. Tony nodded. Still keeping an eye on Betty, Steve bent down and gently picked up Tony to carry him out of the room. Tony went limp as a big doll in Steve's careful grasp.

Betty made no comment on the mode of transportation.

"What did you give him for the nausea?" Bruce asked Phil, still following Tony's departure with his eyes. Phil wasn't surprised that Bruce had figured out the problem just from watching Tony. He'd seen it before.

"Just ginger ale," Phil said. "You know how he balks at taking anything stronger away from home."

Bruce raised his eyebrows. "You think he would've been in any condition to fight anyway, if something went wrong? _More wrong."_

"If necessary, yes," Phil said. "It's all emotional upset from an unpleasant confrontation, not physical injury. Tony held himself together until we reached the jet. If we hadn't been safe there, he wouldn't have let go. I'm actually impressed that he managed to do that outside of the tower."

"So what exactly happened to wreck him that badly? He's not an easy person to sucker-punch with words. He tends to do the punching," Bruce said.

Betty looked at the floor. "I think some of what I said to General Ross may have hit Tony by mistake," she said. "I didn't realize we had that kind of thing in common until ... until Tony started crying on the plane. He sassed around so much, I thought nothing would get through his defenses."

"Usually nothing does," Phil said. "Bruce was right about that. It's just that everyone has sensitive topics and you managed to find one of Tony's."

"Maybe I shouldn't have said all those things to General Ross," Betty admitted. "I hate that he's so awful. He makes me lose my temper, and I should _not_ do that because then other people get hurt like this. I hate that he's my -- that he raised me and I still miss him a little and it's stupid." She sniffled.

"It's not stupid to have mixed feelings about someone who showed you a very unfortunate combination of approval and abuse," Phil said gently. He fetched a couple of tissues for Betty. "You needed to get that out in the open. It's just regrettable that you and Tony got tangled up in a way that hurt him."

"I'm really sorry about that," Betty said. She scrubbed the tears off her face and blew her nose, then looked around for the garbage. Bruce pointed out the hidden compartment that held the can. "The way Tony ran his mouth back at my house, I thought he knew what he was doing."

"If only," Bruce muttered. "Tony isn't the only one whose mouth would benefit from a two-key safety protocol." 

"Well he _asked_ me to do it!" Betty said.

"Tony also has a very low degree of self-preservation," Bruce said. "If he thought it needed doing, he'd have goaded you into it without considering his own safety at all. And friendly fire isn't."

_Why don't you get that off your chest while I hold him for you_. Tony's words echoed in Phil's memory. 

"I'll keep that in mind for future reference, thanks," said Betty. She sighed. "It was an honor to meet Tony Stark, even if I did spend half the time wondering if I'd need to grab an airsick bag for him. I didn't mean to _break_ him."

"You didn't break him, just dented him a little," Phil said.

"Future reference," Bruce echoed, his voice softening. "I kind of ... like the sound of that." Betty smiled at him.

"Before I forget, Tony asked me to show you this," Phil said to Bruce. He brought up the video of General Ross.

Bruce frowned. "Why do you have Tony's phone?"

"He gave it to me on the jet," Phil said.

"He just _gave_ it to you?" Bruce said. He looked at the door where Tony and Steve had disappeared. A deeper frown creased his forehead.

"Yes, I know, not a good sign, but he wanted to make sure you got to appreciate the aftermath of Betty standing up to her father," Phil said. "Don't worry about Tony; Steve will take care of him."

"Okay, show me the clip again," Bruce said. 

Phil did. 

Bruce's eyes widened. "Wow, just, wow. You made old Thunderbolt cry on the carpet!" he said to Betty.

"Like a summer storm," Betty said, lifting her chin. She might have compassion for strangers, but she wouldn't hold back against people who tried to hurt someone she cared about. Even if some part of her missed them, just a little bit, after they were gone. What she had said to General Ross, aimed to wound as deeply as possible, had come from her own background; but what pushed her over the edge to cut him out of her life was his all-out assault on Bruce.

"I am a despicable human being," Bruce said slowly, "because I'm seriously tempted to use a still image from this as wallpaper on a computer somewhere. Maybe for combat planning."

"I'll send the file to your personal server before I give Tony his phone back," Phil said.

"Don't be silly, Bruce, you're still one of the best people I've ever known," Betty said. "Now come here, you. I've missed you a lot." She wrapped herself around him.

"Missed you too," Bruce mumbled as he melted into the hug. He buried his face in her hair and sighed. Betty ran her hands over him, his fingers and wrists, up his arms to his back, all down his sides. Bruce made happy noises.

Betty kissed him once, saying, "That's for you," then again, "and that's for the Other Guy. Send him my love, would you please?"

"Always," Bruce said, holding her tighter. It took a while for him to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has [emotional sore spots](http://www.natashabarber.ca/apps/blog/why-do-i-have-to-work-through).  Working through personal issues can make them less sensitive over time, although major ones may never heal completely and always be tender if hit the right way.  There are tips for responding to [someone hitting a sore spot](http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/11/17/6-ways-to-overcome-your-painful-past/all/1/).
> 
> Survivors of child abuse often have [mixed feelings about their abusive parent(s)](http://fightforward.blogspot.com/2009/04/dealing-with-mixed-feelings-and.html).  This [complicates the grieving process](http://www.hellogrief.org/grieving-the-difficult-relationship/) when the abuser dies or otherwise goes out of reach.


	7. That Will Fit Right In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Bruce discuss their plans for the future.

"Oh yeah, that teamwork exercise did you a _world_ of good," Betty said as she drew back a little. "I'm glad to find you in one piece."

She hadn't just fondled a boyfriend after a long separation, Phil realized. She had very discreetly _checked him for injuries_ while using her own body as a distraction. Phil was impressed all over again.

"What makes you say that?" Bruce said, casting a dubious glance at Phil.

"The way you threw your whole body into the hug, instead of holding back the way you used to," Betty said. "You must have learned that somewhere, I'm guessing from Phil or your other teammates."

"I didn't tell her any more than what's generally known about our teambuilding work," Phil said to Bruce. "I chose to tell her that much after Tony got upset; she helped me look after him and figured out something must be going on between us."

"Yeah," Bruce said, "she's good at that."

"I also wanted to minimize the amount of secret-keeping between the two of you. The rest of us will trust your judgment regarding whatever else you want to tell Betty about this," Phil said. He knew that Bruce would ask before sharing personal details about anyone else's experiences; this would at least free him up to talk about his own. "I will note that the only questions she asked me had to do with whether it was helping you."

"She fits the profile," Bruce said obliquely.

Phil nodded, because yes, Betty did have the same kind of broken family background as the Avengers. What he said aloud was, "Yes, I think she's built up pretty impressive world-saving credentials."

"You have no idea," Bruce said on a soft, eerie note. "I'm not the only one who likes to hog-tie starfire." Betty smiled, a laser-glint in her eyes.

Because they both worked with gamma rays, Phil recalled, and he had learned that gamma rays were ferocious things. "I'm sure that will fit right in around here too," he said.

Bruce shuffled uncomfortably then. "I'm not sure what to say about that," he said, turning to Phil. "I mean, this is awkward. I live here but it's not really my house and Tony's probably passed out in bed by now so I can't ask him and I don't know if I can even offer my girlfriend a place of her own or a guest room or, or --"

"Tony and I talked about this before we left, Bruce, so you don't need to worry about it now," Phil said. Then he turned to Betty. "I'm sorry I didn't cover this earlier. You can share a bedroom with Bruce, take an apartment of your own in this tower, or take a guest room; whichever you prefer."

"I'll take the guest room, and maybe some help finding an apartment outside the tower," Betty said firmly. "It's too early for me to move in. Bruce and I have discussed this before. We need to take our time and not move too fast. He doesn't do well when he's rushed -- except for having a really good head in emergencies -- and frankly I don't like getting pushed into things either."

"I have a guest room on my floor," Bruce said tentatively.

"On your _floor?"_ Betty said.

"Avengers Tower has plenty of space," Phil said. "Team member apartments fill one floor each. This is our common floor."

"The labs and the fabrication facilities fill several floors," Bruce pointed out.

 _"Ooo,"_ Betty said, a soft hoot of enchantment. Then she shook herself. "Okay, no. I have had a really crummy day. What I need is a shower, a hot meal, and a soft bed. Losing myself in your awesome lab instead is tempting but not very practical."

 _"Our_ awesome lab?" Bruce said hopefully.

"Our awesome lab," Betty agreed. "You can give me a tour tomorrow."

"The guest room is like a hotel room, so it has its own bathroom attached. There's a lockable door between the guest room and my personal rooms," Bruce said. "You can order food or anything else you need delivered to the tower; we have a household account for stuff like that. I'll have to bring it to you, though -- delivery personnel aren't allowed this far up. The team floors are pretty much Avengers and family only."

"Then how come I rate a guest room on your floor?" Betty asked, her eyes narrowing. "Because if you're leaving chinks in the security, _this does not make me happy."_

Phil spread his hands in a soothing gesture. "No chinks, I assure you," he said. "We've assigned you a temporary security clearance level based on your file. Since you have consistently acted to protect Bruce-and-Hulk as best you could even in the face of superior forces, and you responded positively to Tony as well, that rating is likely to get revised upward if anything. I feel perfectly comfortable placing you on Bruce's floor."

"Okay, that's fair," Betty said. Then she tilted her head at Phil. "I like the way you acknowledge both of them. Nobody else really does that."

"We're working on that," Phil said. He wondered how Natasha, in particular, would respond to Betty.

Betty yawned. "Right, fine, I'm turning in now. This day has sucked green pennies from the bottom of an empty budget, and I am _done with it."_

"Will you two be all right now?" Phil asked Bruce. He wanted to give them their privacy. He also wanted to make sure that their rejoined relationship was stable, at least for the time being, before he let go of it.

Bruce smiled, with a sweeter note than Phil had seen outside of game nights. "Yes," he said. "We're all right now. Thank you."

"Good night, then," Phil said.

Steve caught Phil on the way to bed. "Would you care to explain why Tony asked me for bedtime stories about Peggy and Howard?" he said.

"Tony decided that Betty needed to say some things to her father before leaving, which was probably true, but unfortunately a lot of them matched things that Tony had wanted to say to _his_ father," Phil explained. There were any number of sensitive issues among his team members, things that could addressed and improved, but would always have a chance of buckling somebody's knees if hit _just_ right.

"Yeah, we've made some progress but that's still a touchy topic," Steve said, clearly grasping the implications. "Tony's usually a pretty tough customer, though..."

"Think about the kind of person who managed to get at least some emotional concepts through to _Bruce,"_ Phil said.  
"Now think about the level of verbal force required to hammer anything through the thick skull of General Ross, and the fact that Tony was holding him for her and had tangent background that she did not know about."

Steve winced. "Poor Tony."

"In Betty's defense, she insisted on helping pick up the pieces afterward," Phil said.

"That's good," Steve said. "He tends to fall apart on me, sometimes, when we talk about Howard. So maybe he's getting used to the idea of people putting him back together again."

"Hmm," Phil said. The more he retold the story, the more he saw in it, reflected back through the eyes of different Avengers. Steve and Tony had a special bond, as did Bruce and Tony, equally strong but not the same shape. "I wonder if today hit him so hard _because_ he's actually started dealing with some of his personal history."

"Like when you try to pull one feather out of a pillow because it's bugging you, and you wind up with a whole handful," Steve said. "Yeah, that makes sense. We've been working to clarify the distinction between _my friend_ Howard and _his father_ Howard. It sounds like what Betty said may have scrambled the pieces in Tony's mind, and he needed help to sort them out again."

"Evidently so," Phil said. "Depending on how he feels about it, you and Tony may need to work through more of that later."  
"When it's not so fresh," Steve said.

"Yes. So how is Tony now?" Phil asked.

"I got him to sleep after two funny stories," Steve said. "I think he'll be okay. He just seemed ... shaken and kind of clingy."

"Given Tony's choice of bedtime stories, I'm inclined to agree on him being okay. It sounds like he was trying to shore up his awareness of earlier Howard and healthier relationships. We talked through some things on the jet, too. A good night's sleep should get Tony back to what passes for normal," Phil said.

Steve chuckled. The Avengers needed a more flexible definition of "normal" than what most people used. "Night, Phil," he said as he turned to go.

Phil headed for his own quarters, eager for a hot bath. His day had sucked too, aside from the rescuing Betty part. _Green pennies, empty budget. Heh,_ he thought. _I'll have to remember that one_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Hugging](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hug%20) is a widespread social custom.  There are many [reasons for hugging](http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/hugging.htm%20), including both [health and pleasure](http://gimundo.com/news/article/the-healing-power-of-hugs/%20).  The [style of a hug can reveal a great deal](http://howtodidyou.wikispaces.com/Analyzing+Hugs%20) about a person's emotional health and how they feel about their partner.  There are instructions for [romantic hugs](http://www.wikihow.com/Hug-Romantically%20) and [other types of hugs](http://www.wikihow.com/Hug%20).  Here are tips on giving awesome hugs, with thought to how the other person experiences the embrace.
> 
> Secrecy and openness play a part in all relationships.  [Keeping secrets](http://improvingrelationships.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-you-keeping-secrets.html%20) is known to [cause problems](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201209/the-danger-keeping-secrets%20) in romance, friendship, business, and other contexts.  Advice frequently focuses on the practice of [openness](http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Openness-in-a-Relationship) and [honesty](http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Honest%20).  Consider [whether these are really needed](http://www.myselfsense.com/are-openness-and-honesty-necessary-in-relationships.php%20).  It's also important to [respect people's privacy](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/398923/jewish/Have-a-Little-Respect-for-Privacy.htm%20), including your own.  Relationships of any kind are a [delicate balance of opposing forces](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_dialectics%20).  The [balance between honesty and privacy](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-name-love/200905/darling-should-you-maintain-your-privacy%20) is just one of those.  And that's before you add espionage and superpowers into the mix!
> 
> It's a good idea to [take things slow](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201208/take-it-slow-if-you-want-your-relationship-last%20) if you want a relationship to last.  This is true in romance, but also in other relationships.  Here are some tips on [taking your time](http://www.ehow.com/how_2308759_take-relationship-slow.html).  Look for [signs that you're ready to move in together](http://www.eharmony.com/dating-advice/relationships/is-it-time-to-move-in-together-10-ways-to-know/#.UX3e17U3tac%20) before doing so.  [Couples need to work on cooperation](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ada-vassilovski/moving-in-together-keepin_b_2725212.html) when moving in.  There are also [more general parameters on moving in](http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A1067825) and [sharing a house with friends](http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A930142).  Pay attention both to [etiquette](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-mirza-grotts/roommate-etiquette-how-to_b_455535.html%20) and [everyday practicalities](http://sharehousing.org/day-to-day-living-arrangements/%20).  A little careful consideration here will save everyone a lot of headaches.


	8. Tomorrow Is Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers discuss whether to invite Betty to game night.

This story is a sequel to "[Love Is for Children](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9139725.html)" and "[Eggshells](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9155908.html)."

**Fandom:** The Avengers  
 **Characters:** Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, JARVIS, Betty Ross, General Ross.  
 **Medium:** Fiction  
 **Warnings:** No standard warnings apply.  
 **Summary:** Phil Coulson finally talks Betty Ross into letting him visit. General Ross is not pleased, but is no match for the opposition. Betty decides to take refuge with the Avengers ... and the interpersonal dynamics get complicated.  
 **Notes:** Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Past abuse. Verbal hostility. Angst. Control issues. Hurt/comfort. Non-sexual ageplay. Fluff. Cuteness. Toys and games. Teambuilding. Personal growth. Howard Stark's A+ parenting. General Ross' A+ parenting. Making up for lost time. Family of choice.

Begin with [Part 1](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9184702.html), [Part 2](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9184875.html), [Part 3](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9186200.html), [Part 4](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9187426.html), [Part 5](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9188226.html), [Part 6](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9188941.html), [Part 7](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9190144.html).  Skip to [Part 10](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9192382.html), [Part 11](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9193055.html), [Part 12](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9194686.html), [Part 13](http://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/9195685.html).

 

**"Dolls and Guys" Part 8**

 

On Friday evening, Betty finished supper, put her plate in the sink, and headed back down to the lab levels leaving the Avengers behind at the table. It was the first time since her arrival that all of them had been together without her in the room, as she'd happily shared in the communal meals. Phil had worried a little, at first, over whether Betty and Tony might feel uncomfortable together after their awkward first meeting. It didn't play out that way, fortunately; they were predisposed to like each other based on a common interest in science and a mutual fondness for Bruce. They were also used to working over, around, or through embarrassing messes.

Bruce looked at the door, looked around the table, and then said tentatively, "So ... tomorrow is Saturday ..."

"Are you planning to ask your girl to game night?" Tony said. "Because if you aren't, I am. I'd like to have someone playing Scrabble who can actually give me a run for my money. I love you to bits, science bro, but you kinda suck at it."

This was actually true. Bruce's intellect and vocabulary matched Tony's, but Bruce lacked the competitive edge to stand up to Tony. Steve's head for strategy gave him an advantage, unfortunately undermined by his much smaller vocabulary. Betty, now ... Phil rather thought Tony gauged her right.

"I'd like to, I just don't know how good an idea it is," Bruce said. "I mean, we talked about it a little more ..."

"She has the same kind of background that you and I do," Tony said to him. "She might find it useful on that count."

Phil had filled in more details for Betty after her conversation with Bruce raised questions. She seemed intrigued by the exercise. That had led to a slow cycle of discussions that shifted through the team as Phil and Bruce checked with different people about what was or wasn't fair to share. _Time to focus this,_ he decided.

"Does anyone have arguments for or against inviting Betty to game night?" Phil asked.

"I'm in favor of a new Scrabble partner for Tony," said Clint.

"Given the file on General Ross, I think Betty would benefit from a ... less rigid environment than how she grew up. It can take time to realize the ... full potential ... of freedom," Natasha said slowly, working her way through the implications.

"Yeah, she wants an apartment in the city, rather than just move in with me. I agree it's a good idea," said Bruce. He gave Phil a sheepish look. "Sorry about the security hassle ..."

"It's no more trouble than securing an apartment for anyone else on the team," Phil assured him.

"Why not offer Betty my old place?" Clint said. "It's already on the safe list, I hardly used it before, and I don't need it at all now that I live here."

"Thank you, Clint, that's an excellent idea," Phil said. SHIELD kept a few safe spots for such occasions, but not a lot of them. This would help.

"If Betty doesn't want Clint's apartment, let her look at mine. I don't need it either," Natasha said. They both had places that emphasized freedom: Clint's with a large balcony, Natasha's with an expansive view. "She has a lot in common with us. In terms of game night, Betty's similarity of background suggests that she's no more likely to cause problems than any of us."

"I'm not so sure about that," Steve said. "She creamed Tony and she wasn't even trying."

"It's okay," Tony said. "I'm the one she messed up a bit and I'm fine with her joining."

"It's not okay if she hurt you," Steve insisted. "Just because you don't see a problem with that, doesn't mean the rest of us want to risk it happening again."

"If Betty joins us for game night, I'll go over the rules with her, including the one about not being mean," Phil said. "Tony and Steve have both raised valid points about what happened earlier. Tony, how do you feel about letting Betty into a very private space? Do you trust her?"

"Yeah," Tony said softly. "I think I kinda do. It's hard to tell because I haven't known her long, and I'm not great at trusting people in general, but ... she just feels like a good person. She didn't rattle me on purpose. When she realized how upset I was, she came and asked if she could help. She got down on the floor with me, too, put herself on my level. Not many people will do that."

"She does that with me too," Bruce said, nodding. "If I curl up in a corner, she'll come join me. And the Other Guy ... you know, I only get these flashes? But I have one memory of Betty climbing a tree so she could talk to him face-to-face. She was sitting in a fork, kicking her heels against the trunk, like they were two kids chatting at summer camp. It was cute. She's good at ... following along, like that. I think if we show her how game night works, she'll get the hang of it."

"That's a definite point in favor," Phil remarked. "We could certainly use another person skilled at following."

"Steve makes a good point about the risk factor, though," Natasha said. "Phil, you also said that Betty reads people remarkably well. That could be a concern in this company. If she loses her temper --"

"That's different from me, exactly how?" Bruce said darkly. "Oh yes, if Betty loses her temper, we get bruised feelings, not _broken Harlem."_

"More than bruised feelings," Steve said. "You didn't put Tony back together after she took him apart. I did."

"Maybe next time it'll be my turn. Tony's my friend too," Bruce said.

"We do not want there to be a _next time,"_ Natasha said, casting a pointed look at where Steve's knuckles had gone white clasping the edge of the table. He followed her gaze and carefully unclenched his fingers.

"Tony and I learned to nerf our sarcasm enough not to upset people we care about," Clint said. "If I can learn that kind of control, Betty can too -- it's not like I'm any kind of genius."

_"Errrnk,_ wrong!" Tony said. Phil was amused by Tony's rather apt game-buzzer noise. "You factor trajectories in your _head,_ Clint, that counts as genius." Clint just shrugged. "Seriously, we have an amazing team here, and you're part of it, so that makes you amazing too."

"Yeah, if people aren't used to us, we can be kind of intimidating --" Steve said.

Bruce laughed. "That's really not a problem. There's only one person Betty finds intimidating, and we just put him in jail. Also being afraid never stopped her from trying to stand up to him," Bruce said. "She seems to be getting along with everyone here, or at least she has so far. I don't think we'll freak her out. It takes ... kind of a lot to do that."

"Betty cited her standards for a bad day as people bleeding or things blowing up," Phil said.

"Wow, that's ... really familiar," Steve said, "and, and she's a _civilian_. That's just. I think I'm having ... what did you call it, Phil? Emotionally complex response?"

"Yes, and that's understandable given the complications of this situation," Phil said. He put a hand over Steve's, and Steve curled his fingers in response. "This is why it helps to have a safe space to work through complicated things."

"There was a little bleeding, though. General Ross picked a fight with me and I broke his nose," Tony pointed out.

"I believe that Betty classified her father as a legitimate target about the same time as he classified Bruce as _army property,"_ Phil said.

Steve growled. That whole issue always made him growl. It was one thing when somebody volunteered. It was quite another when the army tried to shanghai somebody over a _lab accident_. So General Ross wasn't getting much sympathy from that corner either.

"I'm still in favor of inviting Betty to come play with us," Tony said. "Bruce, what about you?"

"I'm not voting," Bruce said. "It wouldn't be fair."

"Okay, we don't have to count it as a vote, but do you basically _like_ the idea?" Tony pressed.

Bruce nodded.

"I'm okay with it," Clint said.

"There may be some challenges, but I believe we can work through them," Natasha said.

"If you go over the rules with her first, then yeah, I think we're good," Steve said.

"Then it's settled. I'll let Betty know, and I'll pick up a few extra supplies for game night," Phil said. Then he looked around the table, meeting everyone's eyes for a moment. "I'm very proud of you all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working through embarrassment is a useful ability.  Tony has it through sheer experience, Betty having already addressed some of her personal issues.  There are ways to [overcome embarrassment](http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/10-real-ways-overcome-embarrassment%20) and [help someone else cope](http://smallbusiness.chron.com/deal-embarrassment-work-16031.html%20). 
> 
> [Nonsexual ageplay](http://duncanrust.wordpress.com/bdsm/bdsm-scenes/ageplay/%20) is often [used for healing](https://sites.google.com/site/kuyateh/%20), especially from child abuse or neglect.  It's very similar to [inner child therapy](http://www.pandys.org/articles/innerchild.html), which also focuses on filling gaps and fixing things that went wrong in childhood.
> 
> [Trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_\(social_sciences\)%20) is an important part of life.  Some people have [trust issues](http://www.head-cleaners.com/trust.htm) due to [betrayal](http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/defineBT.html).  There are signs that someone is [trustworthy](http://www.ehow.com/how_8655470_can-trust-guy.html%20) or [untrustworthy](http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Someone-Is-Trustworthy%20).  There are [general observations about trustworthiness](http://www.maurilioamorim.com/2011/12/how-to-decide-if-you-can-trust-someone/%20).  Consider [contextual aspects](http://voices.yahoo.com/how-know-trust-someone-five-basic-4085295.html?cat=41%20) of whether to trust someone.  For some people, [trust is far more a decision than a feeling](http://web.mit.edu/holton/www/pubs/trust.pdf) \-- Bruce is like this, because Hulk holds almost all of their emotions.  [Learn to be a trustworthy person](http://www.ehow.com/how_2077303_be-trustworthy.html%20).
> 
> [Followship](http://hillsongcollected.com/leadership/followship-new-leadership%20) is the counterpoint of leadership.  It works in [community](http://communities.ic.org/articles/1393/Balancing_Powers%20) and in [professional life](http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/Introduction_to_Followership_091230_6E302164EE1AB.pdf%20).  Good leaders aren't much use without good followers.
> 
> Emotionally Complex Response comes from the [Shadow Unit](http://shadowunit.org/) fandom:  
> ECR is a TLA that is team shorthand for "emotionally complex response," a reaction that is difficult to categorize or sum up in a few words.  This is closely related to the fanlore term [FEELS](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Feels%20).  Both refer to a situation in which emotion(s) can overwhelm the ability to communicate, usually due to intensity and/or mixed feelings.
> 
> There are things children need to hear from adults, and really, most of these things are good for adults to hear from each other too.  Some good resources include: "[5 Things Kids Need to Heart from Their Father](http://estherjantzen.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/5-things-kids-need-to-hear-from-their-father/%20),"  "[Six Things I Believe Children Need to Hear More Often](http://kellycroy.com/six-things-i-believe-children-need-to-hear-more-often/%20)," "[10 Compliments Your Kids Need to Hear](http://www.imom.com/parenting/tweens/relationships/child/10-compliments-your-kids-need-to-hear/%20)," "[Ten Things Your Teen Would Like to Hear](http://www.more4kids.info/1429/ten-things-your-teen-would-like-to-hear/%20)," "[100 Things Kids Need to Hear](http://www.themommymess.com/2012/09/100-things-kids-need-to-hear.html)." Note how often Uncle Phil says these or similar things.


	9. The Girl Next Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty joins game night, meets the other "kids" in the common room, and inquires about the availability of dolls.

Phil brought Betty in first, before the Avengers, because the common room was _their_ space just starting to become _her_ space too, and dropping her into the whole group of them would just make too big of a splash. Betty flowed into her child-persona with the same easy acceptance that greeted Tony's meltdown and, Phil suspected, Hulk's outbursts as well. She was delighted by the knee-length nylon nightie over pink pajama bottoms, unicorn and rainbow blazoned across her chest. He'd wanted to give her something special, but he didn't know her yet, so he had to guess. Purity and light and power. She got it, her eyes twinkling at him, and yes, somehow he got it right after all.

Betty was tentative about hugging him, because she didn't know him yet either, but she showed willing all the same. Phil thought she must make friends very easily. Now that there wasn't an emotional crisis underfoot, they could afford to slow down, take their time, let this relationship grow into itself however it meant to do. Phil had learned this much about Betty already, that she disliked anyone rushing her. So he waited until she let go before he moved to open the door.

The others took care not to mob her. Tony arrived first, and Phil could see him quivering, torn between excitement and a desire not to scare her away. "Hi I'm Tony Carter and I'm four do you want to come play we have lots of toys," Tony said all in one breath.

Betty laughed, a bright spangle of notes like spots of light flung from a window prism. "I'm Betty, and I'm six," she said. "We should wait until everyone gets here, just to be fair, and then we can play." Six had been a compromise between her desire to stay close to Bruce and her tendency to take care of people which might have put her closer to Steve's age. Phil wouldn't be surprised if, like Bruce, she experimented with different ages to see what fit.

Clint and Natka introduced themselves next.

"It's nice having another girl around to play with," Betty said to Natka. "There aren't so many where I come from."

Phil realized that was true both of army bases and of science labs. He wondered if Natka ever regretted the dearth of female company.

"I don't play much like a girl," Natka said in a cool tone.

_Well, at least she's not missing anything she values,_ Phil thought. He hoped that Natka's reserve would not bother Betty; it took Natka a while to warm up to anyone. He needn't have worried.

"Okay," Betty said. "I like girl games _and_ boy games." She rolled with Natka's standoffish demeanor as gracefully as she had with Tony's exuberance.

Steve came in and greeted Betty. Then he said, "You took care of Tony when we kind of sent him to take care of you. So I wanted to say thanks for that." Evidently he'd forgiven her for her part in upsetting Tony in the first place.

"You're welcome. People should take care of each other," she said. Then she tilted her head and looked up at him. "Are you strong enough to lift me too?"

Steve glanced at Phil for approval. Phil nodded. "Yes," Steve said. He picked her up by the waist and swooped her carefully through the air. Betty spread her arms out and gave that sparkling, carefree laugh again.

Phil wondered if her father had ever even heard it.

Bruce arrived last, and did not come in, but rather hung onto the doorframe. Phil walked over and led him into the room. Bruce clung more than usual. In fact, he was halfway hiding behind Phil.

"Hi," Betty said softly.

"Hi," Bruce whispered around the fingers he had in his mouth.

"I'm Betty and I'm six," she said. "My parents just moved on base and I hardly know anybody yet. You wanna be friends?"

Phil admired her deft touch with backstory. It worked, too.

"Uh-huh," Bruce said, letting go of Phil to inch toward Betty.

"Look who just discovered the girl next door," Clint snickered.

"Shush, don't tease them," Steve said, elbowing Clint in the ribs. "Betty, you can pick what to play with first since you're new."

"What do you have?" she asked.

"We have all kinds of board games, some video games, plus toys like blocks and dolls and stuff," Steve said.

"I like dolls," Betty said. "I had all kinds. I had baby dolls and Kitchen Club Girls. I had Talking Barbie, Life Guard Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, Ballerina Barbie, and a bunch of others." Bruce had scooted close enough to press himself against her. She slipped her hand into his.

"Dolls have _kinds_ now?" Steve whispered to Phil.

"Yes," Phil said to Steve. He'd brought a modest selection of dolls early on, but they hadn't come into play yet, so he wasn't surprised by Steve's confusion. "Barbie is a fashion doll, designed to look like a young woman. Kitchen Club is a series of colorful little-girl dolls that teach cooking skills. There are still baby dolls too." He turned to Betty. "We actually have Talking Barbie and Astronaut Barbie. I know there's a selection of baby dolls and a few miscellaneous serial dolls, but I don't remember if any of those are Kitchen Club Girls."

"Excuse me, Uncle Phil," JARVIS said. "There are no Kitchen Club Girls currently in the common room toy cabinet. We do have Mint Chocolate Chip, Blueberry Pancake, and Banana Bread in storage."

Betty squealed. "Mint Chocolate Chip is my favorite!"

"We have _doll storage?"_ Tony said.

What they had, actually, was Phil's supply of excess goods that came when he bought collectibles in mixed lots. Prior to the tradition of game night, he used to donate most of the surplus to charities. Now he picked his best guesses of what his "kids" would like for the toy cabinet, but kept others for occasions like this when someone named a favorite. Duplicates still went to charity. Phil had discovered that Steve and Bruce felt more comfortable with a mix of used and new toys.

"Tomorrow I'll pull the Kitchen Club Girls from storage," Phil said to Betty. "Meanwhile, choose whatever you like."

"Okay," Betty said. Then she turned to Natka. "Do you want to play dolls?"

Natka looked at Phil for guidance.

"Be polite and be honest," he said gently.

"No thank you," Natka said to Betty. "I don't like dolls much."

"Wanna play with the train wreck?" Clint asked Natka. She nodded eagerly. Clint bounded over to the cabinet and pulled out the box of train parts.

"I think you mean _train set,"_ Betty said dubiously.

"No, they said what they meant," Phil said with a chuckle. "You'll see."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun with the symbolism of [the color pink](http://%20http://www.beading-design-jewelry.com/meaning-of-pink.html), [unicorns](http://www.aseekersthoughts.com/2010/05/unicorn-as-symbol.html%20), and [rainbows](http://www.aseekersthoughts.com/2012/03/rainbow-as-symbol.html).
> 
> There are statistics for the low proportion of women in the [military](http://www.womensmemorial.org/PDFs/StatsonWIM.pdf) and the [sciences](http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/cwsem/PGA_049131).
> 
> Read a list of [Barbie's careers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie%27s_careers).  Astronaut Barbie, Talking Barbie, Life Guard Barbie, and Ballerina Barbie all exist.
> 
> Kitchen Club Girls is an imaginary series of dolls loosely inspired by [Strawberry Shortcake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Shortcake).  They have a similar food theme, but it's the skin tone rather than the hair that's brightly colored on most of the KCG dolls.  Each doll comes with a cookbook and they're supposed to teach simple kitchen skills.


	10. Boys Can Play with Dolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce objects to the idea of boys playing with dolls. Phil explains that it's okay.

"If you still want to play dolls, Betty, I'll play with you," Steve said. He hated to see anyone left out, and consistently volunteered for games that needed another person to play, even if they weren't his personal favorites.

Bruce twitched. "Boys can't play with dolls," he said instantly.

"Sure they can," Steve said. "Okay, they might get picked on so not many boys would _admit it_ in public, but they can still play in private."

"Boys can't play with dolls. It's a rule," Bruce repeated, and the flat tone of his voice set off all kinds of alarms for Phil.

"That's a stupid rule," Tony said. "It's not one of ours."

"Tony, let me handle this, please," Phil said. Steve had already gone still and quiet, Betty copying him, neither wanting to make it worse since they'd sparked the problem in the first place. "Bruce, what makes you think that boys can't play with dolls?"

"It's a rule," Bruce said stubbornly. He pulled away from Betty, dropped to the floor, and scrambled toward the coffee table. Betty stared at him, but she didn't interrupt.

Natka plopped herself between Bruce and the coffee table, blocking his access. He glared at her. She held her ground. "You should listen to Uncle Phil," she said.

"Can you tell me where you heard that rule, Bruce? At home, at school, somewhere else?" Phil prompted.

Bruce looked longingly at the coffee table, but Natka still wouldn't budge. _Home,_ he mouthed.

Bruce's home life had been a nightmare of abuse culminating when his father murdered his mother. Phil could well imagine the kind of draconian rules that probably went along with that. This would require a very delicate touch to untangle.

Phil sat down on the floor. "Come here," he said, beckoning to Bruce. Very slowly, Bruce crept into his lap. Phil wasn't as big as Steve, but Bruce had wadded himself into such a tight ball that he actually fit into Phil's lap. "Sometimes people make bad rules, and those can be really hard to get rid of later. Remember, we make our own rules here. That's part of the point to game night, right?"

Bruce nodded against Phil's chest.

"Now, one of our rules is _you can't say you can't play,"_ Phil reminded him. Bruce tensed even more. Phil soothed him with gentle hands until the taut muscles began to relax again. "So that means here, boys absolutely can play with dolls if they want to. Nothing bad will happen if they do."

"Promise?" Bruce whispered.

"I promise," Phil said. "You know what else? _I_ like to play with dolls."

Tony giggled. "Dolls for boys are called _action figures,"_ he said.

"I play with those too," Phil said serenely.

He had, in fact, quite a respectable collection altogether. It included two baby dolls, a sock monkey, and a couple of other rag dolls. There were a great many more action figures, mainly superheroes. He owned most of the Captain America versions. Phil even let Steve see some of those.

However, he had no intention of showing Steve -- or anyone else -- the smaller set of "rescue" toys. There were little plastic heroes missing arms, or legs, or in a few cases even their heads. Phil had found the first tin soldier, ironically a very early Captain America action figure, frozen in a puddle behind his grade school. He had meticulously chipped the battered toy free of its icy prison and taken it home. He loved it fiercely even though it lacked its right arm and shield. He'd been so late that he missed supper and got a scolding, but it was worth it. Later on, Phil found that he couldn't bring himself to discard or give away the broken ones that came his way. He kept them, and repaired them if he could, but mostly he just wanted to save them from abandonment even if that just meant tucking them away in the felt-lined box beneath his bed.

"You really play with dolls like girls do?" Steve said. "I never knew anyone else who -- well. Did that. Just thought they'd do it on their own."

"I didn't say I ever found anyone else to play _with,"_ Phil admitted.

"You can play dolls with me and Steve," Betty said at once.

"I'd like that," Phil said. Bruce squirmed in his lap. "Bruce, you don't have to play with us, or even watch. Why don't you go watch Clint and Natka blow up some trains?" Clint had kept working while the problem got sorted out, and half the track now rambled across the carpet.

"Okay," Bruce said. He headed for Clint, paused, then detoured to give Betty a quick hug.

"Is Bruce okay?" she whispered to Phil, leaning against him for a moment.

Phil nodded. "As long as he's talking and moving, I'm not desperately worried. I got him to stop making a roadblock of himself, so that's progress. If he wants to talk more later, he knows where to find us," Phil said. He let his arm drift lightly over Betty's shoulder, a subtle touch of comfort, until she shifted back to her previous place.

"Should I get the dolls out now?" Steve asked.

"Yes, please," said Phil. He kept a surreptitious eye on both Betty and Bruce. He had expected that Betty might have some kind of difficulty getting into the right headspace for game night, or have issues about what happened with her father, but she seemed to be coping well. He had not expected Bruce to run face-first into a totally different obstacle. So Phil would just stay ready in case either of them needed support.

Steve came back with an armload of assorted dolls. He handed the Barbies to Betty. Then he held out the two baby dolls to Phil. "Which one do you want?"

"I like this one," Phil said. He took the soft cloth beanie doll, leaving the solid plastic one for Steve. The toy molded itself into his grasp, cuddly and familiar.

"This is amazing," Steve said. "I didn't realize how _good_ the dolls had gotten! This looks almost like a real baby." He cradled the doll in his arms, looked at the way Phil was holding his, then adjusted his grip minutely.

"Oh, that's nothing," Tony said. "I made -- Uncle Phil, can I say that now?"

Phil nodded. "Go ahead, Tony, I think Steve will like that project."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people defend gender roles vigorously while others don't care or don't even notice.  It's not rare for an adult to [object to a boy playing with a doll](http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/child_caring/2010/02/why_shouldnt_little_boys_play_with_dolls.html). There's even a [book on the topic](http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Letter-Blocks-The-BN-Parents-and/Why-Can-t-Little-Boys-Play-With-Dolls/ba-p/537436).  [Rigid gender enforcement](http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/let-him-play-with-dolls/) is sexist and can harm children.  Some fathers [get over their objections](http://www.drmomma.org/2009/08/real-boys-play-with-dolls.html%20) to a son playing with dolls, others don't.  Doll play [teaches valuable lessons](http://www.livestrong.com/article/1000397-playing-dolls-affect-male-childs-development/) about childcare and nurturing, for boys as well as girls.  There are steps for [reducing gender stereotypes](http://www.education.com/magazine/article/gender-stereotypes-kids/).  Notice that the Avengers' toy cabinet contains a mix of masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral playthings -- and anybody can play with any of those.
> 
> Harsh rules and [strict parenting](http://www.livestrong.com/article/523693-the-effects-of-strict-parents/%20) can also harm children.  Parents may be [impossible to please](http://www.paklinks.com/gs/life-and-relationships/141956-perfectionist-parents.html), [violent](http://www.be-free.info/enparents/physicalAbuse.htm), and/or [authoritarian](http://www.preteen-thru-teenage-parenting-action-guide.com/authoritarian-parenting.html%20) in ways that impede growth.  Unfair or unpredictable rules can qualify as [emotional abuse](http://www.teach-through-love.com/types-of-emotional-abuse.html%20).  There are [distinctions between punishment, discipline, and abuse](http://plan-international.org/learnwithoutfear/files/positive-discipline-training-manual-vietnam-2%20).  [Nonviolent parenting](http://www.nonviolentalternatives.com/parent.html) offers better options.  You can see Phil using a variety of positive parenting and leadership techniques.


	11. It's Really a Tiny Robot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Tony have an unorthodox way of playing with dolls. Then Betty discovers the train wreck, and impresses everyone with her quick grasp of its potential.

"I made a lot better doll that one. It's really a tiny robot. It keeps score based on when you feed it and stuff, and if you drop it or let it cry too long, then you lose points. It's for parenting classes," Tony explained. "I could show you one later, if you like?"

Steve grinned. "I'd love to see it. You make great robots. I'm just having a hard time believing that you make dolls!"

"I make _robot dolls,"_ Tony emphasized. "I started when I was actually little. I wound up playing at this girl's house and there weren't any trucks or anything since she didn't have brothers. So she brought out her Barbies and I thought the knees would work great in an android and I kinda got in trouble for taking one apart but -- here, let me show you." Tony snagged Talking Barbie from Betty and demonstrated how the knees bent and straightened. "The joints in my robot dolls are bendy like that too."

"That's really keen, Tony," said Steve. "I didn't have anything like this growing up." Then he turned his attention back to the baby doll he held, tracing the finely molded plastic features with one careful fingertip. Phil marveled at how well Steve modulated his great strength for delicate tasks.

"Math class is tough!" said Barbie.

"Wow, that's really dumb," said Tony as he let go of the string.

Betty just giggled. "Yeah, I know, but if you dig the chip out of her then you can make her say _anything you want!"_

Phil hadn't realized that the Talking Barbie he'd casually chucked into a tub in the cabinet was a _pre-recall_ model. He didn't check all toys for their value, because nobody could specialize in everything on the market. But he did remember hearing about how Mattel recalled the "Math class is tough!" Barbies after protests that girls already got enough math-hostile messages without that one. So they were rather valuable. The collector in him winced a bit at the thought of hacking a vintage pre-recall doll.

Uncle Phil looked at Betty and Tony bent eagerly over the toy, their dark heads pressed together as they whispered plans, and let them play.

It was worth it when, ten minutes later, Barbie said things like "nuclear magnetic resonance" and "Eγ = hv."

"Guess you showed them who's good at math, huh," said Steve. He loved watching people do things they'd been told they weren't able to do. Phil grinned. He never got tired of that either.

"I wonder if Mattel would actually let me make a line of Science Barbies," Tony mused. "Maybe start with something simpler, like E = mc2 ..."

Phil laughed at the idea of counting Einstein's famous equation as _simple,_ though of course for Tony and Betty it was.

Just then, the two trains crashed together and burst into holographic flames. "Smash!" crowed Bruce.

Phil's head whipped around. That sounded almost like _Hulk_ instead of Bruce. But no, Bruce was still pink and comparatively small and fully clad in his brown-and-tan plaid jammies. Well, then. As long as Hulk didn't come out and make a mess, Phil wouldn't begrudge him a little vicarious train-wrecking.

"He sounds happy again," Betty said. "That's good." She handed her Barbies to Tony, then trotted over to join the other group.

Tony, Steve, and Phil drifted along behind her. "I'm glad Bruce is okay," Steve said to Phil. "I didn't mean to upset him."

"It wasn't so much you as his past," Phil reminded him.

"Wow, you really weren't kidding about the train wreck!" Betty said to Clint and Natka. Illusory smoke poured out of the wreckage. "Can we do it again?"

Natka laughed. "Sure," she said, grabbing one of the trains. She handed that one to Betty. Then she gave the other one to Clint. "See, you put your train on a track, and then there's a different track for the other train. Sometimes they go side by side. Where the tracks cross, like here and here, you can make the trains crash if you time it right. They don't run at exactly the same base speed so it's a little tricky. This is the controller ..." Natka showed Betty how to work the buttons.

Betty watched the trains loop slowly through the tracks. Phil could see her lips move, but couldn't make out what she was muttering under her breath. Then she pushed one button. Her train surged forward at its higher speed and nailed Clint's train on the first attempt. "Yay, I got it!" she said as the trains 'exploded' into artful fireballs.

"Smash!" Bruce said again, grinning. Betty hugged him. He hugged her back. Phil gave a mental sigh of relief to see them interacting comfortably now.

"You're really good at that," Natka said to Betty, her eyes shining.

"It's all just math," Betty said blithely. "Here, see, you can calculate the train's speed by looking at how it moves over the tracks, because the boards under the rails have a consistent spacing."

"That would _work,"_ Steve said, his voice tightening. "I mean, for a real train, if you were trying ... to jump on it or something ..." Phil gave him a concerned glance, but Steve seemed to hold himself together.

"Well, yeah. Math is math," Betty said. "So you figure one train's speed like this ..." She summoned a hologram from JARVIS and wrote out the formula. "Then you do the other train's speed the same way. Then you do this to find out how to make them hit ..." She wrote another formula. "Now watch."

The trains cycled through again. Betty tweaked the speed, and the two collided in phantom flames.

Steve was frowning. "It _almost_ makes sense, but I kinda feel like I'm missing some pieces."

"Well, public school math classes tend to stink," Betty said. "You wanna go over this again tomorrow? If you're really planning to _jump on live trains_ then you should know how fast they're going so you don't _miss."_

"That's a plan," Steve said firmly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Talking Barbie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie's_careers) is listed under Barbie's careers. The [math quote](http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/21/business/company-news-mattel-says-it-erred-teen-talk-barbie-turns-silent-on-math.html) is real too. And Tony's idea about Barbie's knees is borrowed from my own, although I did not actually dismantle anything in pursuit of that.
> 
> [Nuclear magnetic resonance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_magnetic_resonance) involves nuclei absorbing and re-emitting radiation.
> 
> [Eγ = hv](http://www.scribd.com/doc/19387584/Gamma-Rays-Interactions-With-Matter) is the formula for gamma photon kinetic energy.  Dreamwidth user Mdlbear notes that E=hv (the "v" is actually the Greek letter "nu" and is the frequency of the light) applies to all photons from gamma rays to radio.
> 
> [E=mc²](http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/emc1.htm) describes mass-energy equivalence.


	12. She Knew a Lot of Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty and Tony play Scrabble, and then other people join in the fun.

They did eventually get around to that Scrabble game Tony wanted. Bruce settled between Betty and Natka, with Phil behind them. Bruce watched Betty with a small, secretive smile.

"Something you want to share with the class?" Phil murmured to him.

"She always beats me. So does Tony," Bruce said with a shrug. There was something more he wasn't saying, Phil thought, but didn't push further.

Tony pulled his usual trick of filling the middle of the board with big words, making it difficult to add more words without hitting something the wrong way. This turned out to be exactly the wrong approach with Betty, who excelled at turning words into longer words -- and like Tony, she knew a _lot_ of words. She also had a knack for aiming at the high-scoring squares.

Tony finally gave up after Betty stretched "zoogeographical" along the bottom of the board, wrapping it around Tony's "geograph" and covering the last two triple-word score squares on that line. "That's it for me," he said. "I got nothing left I can play." He tipped over his remaining tiles -- L, N, and Z -- which added another 12 points to Betty's score since she had used all her letters.

"Thought so," Bruce said with a grin.

"You didn't tell them where I learned to play?" Betty asked him.

Bruce shook his head. "More fun this way."

"Well I'm an army brat, so that's where," she said to Tony. "I learned a lot about strategy from the officers who'd come around the house. I had to learn the good words on my own though."

"Yeah, right," Tony said, pointing to the "stratofortress" that she'd made out of his "fortress."

"Except for the weaponry vocabulary," Betty admitted. "That I grew up with."

"Wasn't expecting you to wipe the floor with me like that," Tony muttered. Then he gave a philosophical shrug. "Oh well. Good game." He stuck out his hand over the board, and they shook on it.

"Next game?" Natka said to Betty.

"Are you sure?" Betty asked. "I mean, I did just beat _Tony."_

"I admire your grasp of strategy. I wish to practice. Also we have this game in Russian," Natka said.

Betty laughed. "Well, my Russian is ... не очень хорошо." _Not very good_.

"Then we both practice," Natka said.

"I want to play too," Tony and Steve chorused. They both spoke some Russian.

"I'll get out the Russian set while you guys pack up the English set," Clint said.

_Natka's native fluency and Tony's deep memory against the strategic skill of Steve and Betty,_ Phil mused. _This ought to be fun_.

The words were a lot shorter, the game longer, and the final scores lower. In the end it came down to a double tie with Natka and Tony a scant 10 points ahead of Steve and Betty. They were all grinning.

"When I first learned to play this game, it was called Criss-Cross Words. One of the codebreakers had a set. He used it to teach us some basics about cryptography, like word length and letter frequency," Steve said. Then he stirred the Cyrillic tiles with a fingertip. "You know, not to fill up the whole cabinet or anything, but does Scrabble come in more languages now?"

"Does it come in Portuguese or Hindi?" Bruce asked.

JARVIS chimed in then, "Scrabble is currently available in 37 languages, including Portuguese but not Hindi."

"I can fix that," Tony said at once.

"Do you even _know_ Hindi?" Bruce asked.

"मॅँ बंदूक बेचने है।," Tony said. _I sell guns_. "I can make arms deals and buy drinks in about fifty languages. After that it gets sketchy." He shrugged. "I don't need to know the whole language to make tiles for it, though. I just need the letter shapes and how many of each to make, and JARVIS can get me that. Just bags of tiles wouldn't take too much space, or we could play on the viewscreen. It wouldn't take me long to write a Scrabble program -- those already exist, but I'd want one I could change into new languages."

"Cooooool," Bruce said slowly. "I wanna Hindi set, please."

"What about Albanian and Hungarian?" Clint asked then. "Are those on the market yet?"

JARVIS said, "Albanian no, Hungarian yes."

"I can fix that too," Tony said.

This teambuilding exercise was turning out to be educational in _far_ more ways than Phil had ever anticipated. Betty made a perfect fulcrum between Bruce's cautious reserve and Tony's heedless curiosity, and oh, now they had _Phil_ thinking in scientific metaphors too. Apparently if you put several smart people together and encouraged them to play, they'd carry everyone else along for the ride. They were blurring the age lines a little, but they were obviously having fun. Phil leaned back and watched, a fond smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can read about the [game of Scrabble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble), [its letter distribution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble_letter_distributions), [scoring rules](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble_letter_distributions), and see a [picture of the board](http://raptureinvenice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/board.png) online.
> 
> Read about [zoogeographical](http://www.sanjeev.net/scrabble15/z/zoogeographical-aacegghiloooprz.html) and [stratofortress](http://reference.yourdictionary.com/glossaries/global-counterrorism/weapons.html) online.
> 
> See the [Russian Scrabble](http://www.amazon.com/Russian-scrabble-Erudit/dp/B0055DDXSI). I've actually played this one.
> 
> Explore the [history of Scrabble](http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/en_US/story.cfm), including its origin in Criss-Cross Words. Yes, letter frequency and word length are fundamentals of cryptography.
> 
> Here's an overview of [lever and fulcrum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever).


	13. Extra Good Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Phil and Tony discuss game night and group dynamics after everyone else leaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ends "Dolls and Guys." If you've been reading this story, it's helpful to leave a comment on the last episode so I have an idea how many readers it has attracted. I'm also interested in feedback on the group dynamics, since it's the first addition of a new character into game night. Thank you all for reading, and especially for the feedback you've given on earlier episodes.
> 
> Remember you can find the sequels on the [series page](http://archiveofourown.org/series/42722).

At the end of game night, Betty and Bruce left together, arms wrapped around each other. Clint and Natka were holding hands, as they often did. Steve went off by himself. After everyone else left, Tony lingered behind.

Phil gave Tony an appraising look, then remarked, "You were extra good today."

Tony nodded solemnly. "It was Betty's turn," he said. "She's new at this. She needed you to pay attention to her, not get distracted by me messing around. I wasn't expecting Bruce to go off like he did, though."

"I didn't see that one coming, either," Phil admitted. He knew his "kids" well enough that it rarely happened, but every once in while, something completely blindsided him. In his experience, it was usually female assets who ran into problems with gender issues. There were always exceptions, though. "I'm sure Bruce will be all right, Tony. Now we know to take extra care with that topic, and besides, Betty's a very calming influence for him."

"Yeah, she's good at that," Tony said. "She reminds me a little of you that way. Like a buffer solution in the lab, pulling everything toward neutral."

Phil had never heard his handling skill described like _that_ before, but it made sense. And handling -- he hadn't quite completed the connection earlier, but wasn't that exactly what Betty did for Bruce? She was his handler, he was her asset, they just didn't have the benefit of training to show them how it was supposed to work. So they'd had to do everything by trial and error, usually with a bunch of hostiles surrounding them trying to tear them apart.

Phil made a mental note to send Betty some of the introductory material that SHIELD used for new recruits who showed potential in asset management. He'd ask Clint and Natasha to talk with Bruce, too, because they had gotten training for the other side of that pairing that the rest of the Avengers had missed. Phil felt confident that Betty and Bruce were smart enough to sort through that material, pick out anything they could use, modify what almost fit, and discard whatever wouldn't work for them. Maybe he'd give it another look himself, and see what he could adapt for the other Avengers. Just because they didn't perform in the field like ordinary assets, didn't mean the material was _all_ useless to them. It just might need a little creative interpretation. Phil was good at that.

"Thank you, Tony. That was a very astute observation, and you've been a big help," Phil said.

"You're welcome," Tony said. Then he scuffed one toe over the carpet, bringing it up to rub the back of the opposite calf. "It's just ... I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun, or make you mad, but ..."

Phil hugged him. "You don't have to keep it up any longer than you feel comfortable. You're not ruining anything and you won't make me mad," Phil assured him. "Game night is supposed to be relaxing. As long as you don't hurt yourself or anyone else, or somehow break something we can't fix or replace, then it's okay if you act up a little. I understand why you need that sometimes. I really do."

"I'm glad somebody does," Tony said. "I think ... I was always looking for this, and it just took me a really long time to find it. I looked in a lot of wrong places. Did some amazingly dumb stuff along the way."

That explained a great deal about Tony's infamous antics. He hadn't needed a boot to the rear, as some people had so crudely put it. He needed someone to notice that he was _starving to death_ for responsible guidance and _feed him some_. No wonder Tony had gotten into so much trouble.

Phil's conscience gave a guilty twinge as he remembered their disastrous first meeting. He could have saved everyone a lot of time and heartache if he'd seen through Tony's facade sooner. Then again, Tony had spent a lifetime perfecting that mask, and it held up under all kinds of public scrutiny. Almost nobody saw through it, even if they knew him for a long time. _Stupendous emotional armor,_ Phil thought, recalling Betty's assessment. _She certainly called that one right_.

"Well, you have this now, Tony. You have me, and the rest of the team, too. We'll make sure that you get what you need. We'll always take care of you, even if it's inconvenient sometimes, because we know that you'll take care of us when we need you to do that," Phil said.

Tony nodded, a little too fast. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm really glad about that. Don't know how I got this lucky." He hesitated, then went on, "I'm sorry about the way I melted down in the jet on the way home from picking up Betty."

"It's all right," Phil said. "You scared me for a minute, though, when you first said that you weren't okay. I thought General Ross managed to stab you or something that I hadn't noticed."

"No, just ... it was weird," Tony said. He frowned and rubbed a hand through his hair. "When I dumped him on the carpet I felt fine. Then it started to creep up on me. At first I thought I could shake it off, so I just kept going. The more I thought about what Betty said to him, though, the worse it got. It was like, I don't know, some kind of slow-acting poison or something."

"Words can be like that," Phil said. Oh yes, they could. Words could sink deep and leave wounds that festered for years. They weren't as easy to dig out as a bullet or an arrowhead, either, and the wounds rarely healed clean. He knew all about that. He'd seen it in more than one of his assets, especially Clint and Natasha after the incident with Loki. Clint was still mentally limping over that. Natasha at least had given as good as she got. That made Phil wonder how Loki was doing, because Thor was part of the team and what hurt Loki would necessarily hook into Thor too. There was nothing to be done about that for now, though.

"I'm glad you were there for me," Tony said. "I'm glad you were willing to listen and not just tell me to put a good face on it because somebody was watching."

"I'll always be there for you, Tony," Phil promised. "I always want to listen if something goes wrong for you, and if you really can't wait without hurting yourself further, then I don't care _who_ is watching. You're more important than keeping up appearances."

Tony melted against Phil, snuggling against the soft bathrobe. "Thanks, Uncle Phil. You're the greatest," he said.

"World's Greatest Uncle, truth in advertising," Phil said, tapping the t-shirt that he wore under his bathrobe. On some nights -- like tonight -- he really felt like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A [buffer solution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_solution) consists of two opposites, an acid and a base, tending to keep the pH near neutral.
> 
> Among the [key reasons why children misbehave](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/8-reasons-why-children-misbehave-with-solutions.html): they need attention, they need to test boundaries, and they may not understand the right thing to go in a given situation.  Tony in particular craves a chance to act up without harmful consequences, because he was mostly neglected and occasionally abused growing up.  Uncle Phil's [gentle, firm discipline](http://www.lalecheleague.org/nb/nbmayjun05p94.html) scratches that itch for him and reduces Tony's tendency to do wild crazy things in the adult world.
> 
> [Poisonous language](http://www.fistfreelanguage.com/Articles/Toxic_Language.pdf) is real, and it can do serious harm to children and adults.  [Verbal self-defense](http://adrr.com/aa/) can deflect some types of attack.  [Nonviolent communication](http://www.wikihow.com/Practice-Nonviolent-Communication) is a healthier alternative to verbal aggression.
> 
> See [Uncle Phil's t-shirt](http://www.513ventures.com/ebay/inkedtees/products/wguncle.png).

**Author's Note:**

> [Leonard Samson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Samson) appeared as Betty's love interest in _[The Incredible Hulk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Hulk_\(film\))_.
> 
> General Ross' actions in canon clearly constitute [stalking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking) and [overcontrolling](http://www.controllingparents.com/Signs.htm).  This tends to correlate with [harassment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harassment), [intimidation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intimidation), [abuse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse), [emotional/psychological manipulation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_manipulation), [possessiveness](http://www.nelsonsnaturalworld.com/en-us/uk/a-z-of-ailments/emotional-health/being-overbearing-possessive-in-relationships/), and generally being a [control freak](http://abusesanctuary.blogspot.com/2005/10/dealing-with-control-freaks-by-thomas.html).  [Domestic abuse and child abuse](https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/domesticviolence/domesticviolenceb.cfm) often occur in the same household -- some abusers just plain mistreat _everyone_.  Add [human trafficking](http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164220.htm) with regard to Bruce.
> 
> A "[getaway bag](http://voices.yahoo.com/plan-escape-leaving-abusive-relationship-safely-1344931.html?cat=5)" is a helpful tool for [escaping from an abusive situation](http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/articles/escape-plan-to-get-away-from-domestic-violence/).  It should contain necessities such as money, medicines, emergency snacks, identification, toiletries, and a change of clothes.
> 
> [Confronting an abuser](http://www.pandys.org/articles/confrontingyourabuser.html) can be very cathartic if it is safe to do so.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Cover art for "Dolls and Guys"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12607964) by [Lehorin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lehorin/pseuds/Lehorin)




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